California Water Service Group - CWT Stock Forecast, Price & News

California Water Service Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Texas. The company is involved in the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, as well as for fire protection. It offers its services to approximately 494,500 customer connections in 100 California communities; approximately 6,200 water and wastewater customer connections on the islands of Maui and Hawaii; approximately 36,400 customer connections in the Tacoma, Olympia, Graham, Spanaway, Puyallup, and Gig Harbor areas; and approximately 8,600 water and wastewater customer connections in the Belen, Los Lunas, Indian Hills, and Elephant Butte areas in New Mexico. The company also engages in the provision of non-regulated water-related services, including operating of municipally owned water systems, privately owned water, and recycled water distribution systems; water system operation, meter reading, and billing services to private companies and municipalities; leasing of communication antenna sites on its properties to telecommunication companies; and billing of optional third-party insurance programs to its residential customers, as well as provides lab services. In addition, it offers wastewater collection and treatment services. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded California Water Service Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 1st.

California Water Service Group Stock Performance

CWT Stock traded down $1.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.78. 166,754 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 227,677. California Water Service Group has a 1-year low of $48.46 and a 1-year high of $72.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 36.23 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company's fifty day moving average price is $55.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.35.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.24). California Water Service Group had a return on equity of 7.39% and a net margin of 10.69%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that California Water Service Group will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Water Service Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 5th. California Water Service Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

Insider Transactions at California Water Service Group

In other news, VP Michael B. Luu sold 425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.54, for a total transaction of $25,729.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,277 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,489.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Michael B. Luu sold 425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.54, for a total value of $25,729.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,489.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Kuta sold 1,365 shares of California Water Service Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.14, for a total transaction of $75,266.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,094 shares of the company's stock, valued at $666,863.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,490 shares of company stock worth $138,595 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.